Players to Watch: Cloverbelt-West

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Next up is the Cloverbelt-West. Last season, Osseo-Fairchild won the conference with a 13-1 record and captured it by a game over McDonell Central Catholic, who made it to the D5 state tournament last season. This conference should continue to be competitive, so let's talk about a few of the players in the Cloverbelt-West.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='209585' first='Emily' last='Cooper']</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The only knock you could've had on Cooper's sophomore season at McDonell was her shooting. However, this summer, the 5-foot-8 guard seemed to make everything from everywhere behind the 3-point line. She's been one of the best instinctual defensive guards in the state since she's gotten to high school, even if she hasn't gotten the credit for her performance. She makes plays on the ball that few can, and even though she plays in D5, she deserves all the accolades that come her way and more.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Marley Hughes</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The McDonell wing makes winning plays, period. I've only seen her play once at the Resch Center last March and can tell you why I love her game. Hughes is a combo guard who has a sense of calm to her. When the Macks' star senior went down, they trailed by around ten points. Hughes took that leadership role and got good shots for herself and her teammates when they needed it most. Although the Macks came up just short in the end, what Hughes did was memorable because she made it seem like she did that 100 times in front of 20 times the amount of people. She's a winner.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='156092' first='Eleice' last='Dahl']</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The Osseo-Fairchild wing is a versatile athlete who can score from inside and out. She has the strength to create space inside and the athleticism to run her defender ragged on the perimeter. Her high school team is losing a player of the year in the conference and will need others to step up and fill that void. I believe Dahl has the talent and ability to do more for Osseo-Fairchild this season. She's an under-the-radar kid who small schools will like when they see her play.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='266990' first='Dani' last='Latz']</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The Bloomer native has a well-rounded game that she can build on. She can shoot, attack the basket, and play with her back to the basket. Her team may not have been competitive in the conference, but Latz showed flashes of being a player who can help her group improve over the next few seasons. She's an aggressive wing who knows what she wants to do when she gets the ball, which makes her dangerous.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->